Chapter 80

“A blacksmith? You can’t be serious!”
“Derek, don’t lie to me!”
The three wizards who came to stop Karot and were thwarted were talking about Ming Hu.
“Isn’t that ridiculous?”
“The three of us didn’t win, and the blacksmith? That’s ridiculous.”
“And that Karot guy… It would take a master of your caliber to capture Karot. But a blacksmith is not capable of such a feat.”
Derek, the mage who had spoken to Ming Hu at the words of his fellow mages, shook his head.
“Okay, so what is it?”
“Hmm.”
Derek’s words left his two fellow wizards pondering. Then one of the wizards spoke up.
“I’m guessing it’s Secret Knights.”
“Secret Knights?”
“Aye, the veiled Imperial Guard. They guard the Imperial Palace and take orders only from the Emperor.”
“That could be.”
As they talked, the three mages’ eyes naturally shifted to Karot’s corpse.
“Move the body.”
“Sure.”
The three mages approached Karot’s corpse to carry it away.
“Hehe, Karot, is it the influence of the Forbidden Book? Look at these strange tattoos.”
“Hmm? Tattoos? Lekan, what does that mean?”
Derek asked at Rekan’s comment.
“Hehe, what do you mean, all these tattoos covering your face?”
“Huh?”
Derek quickly approached Karot’s corpse at Rekhan’s words, and what he saw of the man’s face surprised him. Karot’s face was covered in strange tattoos.
“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there!
You’re not mistaken. It’s impossible not to see so many tattoos. Surely, just a moment ago, not a single tattoo had been imprinted on Karot’s face. Rekhan muttered as he looked at Karot’s tattoos.
“That’s a really clear imprint. Is the carriage alive, huh?”
That was the moment.
Siaak
The tattoos on Karot’s face began to move, and at the same time, black mana began to flow from them and envelope his body.
“No, no, no!”
The wizards were taken aback by the sudden change.
Squeak squeak squeak
At that moment, a circle of magic appeared behind the three wizards’ backs.
“Actually.”
The three wizards felt the presence of the magic circle behind them and tried to raise their shields, but it was one step ahead of them.
Fluffy.
Black awls shot out of the circle of magic, digging into the mages’ backs and piercing their hearts.
“…”
The three mages whose hearts had been pierced could say nothing, only stare wide-eyed at Karot.
whisk whisk whisk whisk
“…Hmmm.”
As the three mages fell, Karot slowly began to open his eyes. Karot’s eyes were red with no pupils, no whites.
Sigh
Karot muttered as he looked toward the forge, where Ming Hu had disappeared.
“A blacksmith?”
Karot smiled, one corner of his mouth twitching upward. The black mana around him pulsed and slowly began to envelope his face.
Siaak
And just like that, Karot disappeared into the ground. A few moments later, a wizard in brown robes appeared in the place where Karot had disappeared.
“…!”
The brown-robed wizard was surprised to find the dead wizards, for it was he who had sent them here.
“Ugh, I shouldn’t have sent these guys.”
Brown Robe Mage No, there are only ten of them in the empire, Seventh Circle Master and First Mage Crime frowned at the three dead mages.
“What the… what’s going on, I’m sure…”
Sigh
Crime exclaimed, tapping the ground with his cane to see what was going on.
“Retrospection”
Thump…
The moment the staff touched the ground, blue waves radiated from it, and Crime’s mind began to fill with memories of what had happened here.
“Karot… I’m afraid you’re going to have to break the taboo.”
I thought the three wizards would be enough to defeat them. No, if Karot hadn’t mastered the Grimoire, he would have been enough to defeat them.
“Hmm? What? Huh. Blacksmith? Oh no! Hmmm…”
After a few moments of mixed reactions, Crime looked in the direction of the forge and muttered quietly to himself.
“Blacksmith…”
* * * * *
“Why am I so twitchy?”
On his way back to the forge, Ming Hu continued to scratch his head in inexplicable annoyance.
“Is it because of the 4200 gold?”
Ming Hu shook his head as he remembered the 4,200 gold that had been blown away in the explosion. The sting he was feeling now wasn’t from the 4,200 gold.
“Grrr…”
Ming Hu soon arrived at the forge and went straight inside. Once inside, he felt the stares of several smiths. Ming Hu felt their eyes on him and approached Nerfai.
“Gone.”
“You don’t look hurt anywhere.”
“Yes.”
At Nerfai’s words, Ming Hu smiled and replied.
“So, how was it?”
At Nerpai’s further questioning, Minghu began to tell him what had happened there. Of course, he couldn’t say that he had struck down Karot, so he embellished a bit.
“When we got there, some crazy wizard was going on a rampage, smashing up buildings, and after a while, three imperial mages showed up and subdued the crazy wizard, ending the situation.”
“…Is that it?”
Nerfai asked, cocking his head. Something didn’t seem right.
“Yes. That’s it.”
Ming Hu nodded in response, and Nerfai shook his head again, looking at the smiths who had stopped working and focused on his words.
“All questions answered, everyone get to work!”
Nerfai called out to the smiths, then looked at Ming Hu, and pointed to the sword, armor, and shield that Ming Hu had made and brought with him.
“I saw the sword…”
Nerfai trailed off. Then he continued.
“I don’t need to look at the others, you’ve done a great job.”
[You have completed the quest].
[You have earned Nerfai’s approval[S].
“I’ll put these in the supply warehouse right away.”
Having said that, Nerpai raised his hand and pointed somewhere. Ming Hu looked where Nerfai pointed. It was a workbench that felt attached to the materials. As Minghu looked at the workbench, he heard Nerfai’s voice in his ear.
“That’s your workbench now.”
Nerpai’s words made Minghu smile. Ming Hu turned his head again and looked at Nerpai.
“What should I build first?”
“Hmm.”
At Ming Hu’s question, Nerfai thought for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak.
“For now, let’s create 10 basic sets.”
<Imperial Palace Forge's Armor Crafting A
The Imperial Forge is currently busy making armor to supply the frontier. Nerfai wants you to make 10 basic sets of iron swords, iron armor, and steel shields. Make 10 basic sets and take them to Nerfai.
[iron sword: 0 / 10].
[ironclad: 0/10].
[Steel Shield: 0/10].
Difficulty Level: D
Quest Reward: +100% Helioca Merit
"Yes."
[You have accepted the quest].
When the quest acceptance prompt popped up, Ming Hu headed straight to his workbench, and when he arrived at his workbench a short time later, he couldn't help but feel a little flustered.
"What's… the… ingredient placement…"
I couldn't see where to place my materials. No, not exactly invisible, but this workbench had no place to put materials. Just then, the blacksmith next to him must have heard Ming Hu's comment because he chuckled.
"Well, I don't need to create that space when the ingredients are right there, I can just grab them and use them."
"I see…"
Ming Hu couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly as he listened to the blacksmith's words. He couldn't use the automatic material supply system, which would automatically put materials on the workbench if there was no place to put them.
"I'm going to have to go back and forth…
Of course, the material warehouse is close by, so it wasn't too much of a burden, but it was a little disappointing.
Ming Hu walked to the Materials Warehouse and returned to his workbench with the materials for the Iron Sword, Iron Armor, and Steel Shield. He placed the materials for the Iron Sword on the workbench, opened the crafting window, selected the Iron Sword, and pressed Craft.
"…Huh?"
Ming Hu, who chose the iron sword, couldn't help but panic for a moment.
"What… what is it, 1098?"
Next to the iron sword, where it says how many you can make, there was a number 1098.
Ming Hu double-checked the ingredients he had brought.
"…I didn't bring a lot of ingredients."
No matter how much material I brought, it was never enough to make 1098 sacks.
"Huh?"
It was then. The number 1098 had shrunk to 1096 before I'd even made it, and I could hear the blacksmith's voice in my ear, coming out of the supply closet.
"Ouch, my saber is sore. I'll make two iron swords and get some rest."
Sigh
Ming Hu looked at the material warehouse.
"There's a good reason it's not there."
There was a reason why there was no place to put the materials. The workbench was connected to the material warehouse, which meant that as long as the warehouse was not out of materials, an automated material supply system was always available.
[Hold the hammer].
Hearing the message, Ming Hu picked up his hammer.